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You are on the right track Dana. No, using absolute URLs is not going to cause a meaningful increase in server response time / page load time. I would look at other sitewide header/footer issues, javascripts / CSS and possible images on CDN etc.

It is clearly marketing copy that is there to help the consumer. It's like the logo, navigation and other aspects of the page which are duplicate on every page. So it should not matter. What concerns me in this situation is the location. One thing that comes to mind as a possible solution is: 1. Can you serve this as an image instead of text ? 2. Or can you serve it in an iframe ? Using one of these techniques, you would be able to get rid of any of the SEO impacts of this being duplicate on every product page. I hope this helps.

I would suggest to do exactly as Matt says. Do them slowly and start with your lowest traffic domains/websites. As you see the new site starting to pickup the changes and the affects of the 301 from the old domain and the rankings start to show up, do more...gradually. Rather then all in one day.

Dan

This differs so much from industry to industry and your audience. I strongly suggest you to A/B test it. Let the data suggest you what makes most sense to your user. I might have a similar situation but a totally different target audience and behavior and if you follow what I say, it might totally mess up your conversions, whereas that same style or presentation might be a rockstar for me.

I hope that makes sense.

Think about it from the user's perspective. You work for a company based out of Chicago and are looking for. It sounds like you are a venue. I'd make the page rich with information that people are looking for. Think about the frequently asked questions that people call and ask the venue. Incorporate them into the website. Not everything goes on the same page. But all these pages as well as the menu act as supplemental pages for your main page, site and the keywords.

Think about it. Help the consumer a little bit better. This would also lead to better conversion. When in doubt, think about the consumer and the answer is right there.

I think if I am looking for a location for a corporate event, I am interested in:

Size, Seating Capacity, Catering Services, Menu, Pricing, Planner, Parking, Location, Types of Seating, Decorations, Themes, Projectors/Large Screen TVs, Sound System and other add-ons etc.

Menu is one of the items I am looking for. Do I want it on the page right on my face or do I want all the options and be able to expand on the information I am looking for ?

It's just your sitemap index file which is showing pending. All it needs to do is addup the values of your other sitemaps (which are referenced in the index file) and show the total stats next to it.

Other then that, you are good. No need to worry.

You need to look at what other things are needed to strengthen the pages (On-site SEO) as well as building domain authority so that pages from this site show up in the SERPS. It sounds like your problem could be either of those 2 or a combination of both.

If I were you I would look at the quality of the content, strength of the pages as well as do a complete SEO audit of your client's website to make sure your site is indeed rankable. Try a combination of both the factors and see where you get the most impact.

I am not sure whether that's a good solution or not, but look into the option of providing no product description in your feed. Just the Product Name, Categories, Tags/Attributes etc. Maybe a shorter version of the description...First 100 characters maybe ? That would at-least protect from future datafeed consumers....

I think that makes sense. Serve up the relevant information better then your competition and then test to see how it performs. Have other people, customers look at it and get their feedback. I totally like the idea of an intro followed by a chart and then providing detail information links where needed.

It's your index file, I would suggest you leave it as is. Nothing to worry. You are good.

I agree with Pat. Great detailed answer. Love it. I am sure others will find it useful as well.

I'd also recommend to look at your blog not just for SEO reasons as a link that helps towards SEO, but as your customer acquisition and brand awareness tool. The SEO Benefit is a freebie (maybe an essential freebie) that you get out of it. So if you think of this blog with this attitude, you'll end up building a great blog with tons of content, great readership and so on.

And to directly answer your question, honestly since it's just 1 domain name, I would not worry about it too much. As donford set, you'll technically get a little bit more value if this blog was hosted on a different Class C IP. Other then that, I wouldn't worry much about changing registrars etc. Not a big deal, however if it bothers you and you'd like to shift the domain to a different registrar, that's okay as well. Again, I would not stress much on this small issue.

I hope this helps.

I agree, it's more of a personal choice and what you consider "clean". I'd vote for #1 as well.

I would just canonical it to the right URL and for every other URL that might be generated in multiple ways. You should definitely not do a robots.txt block.

I agree with Rob 100%. It's "Okay" for some links to be 404. You do not have to redirect every single page from the old site to the new site structureI would make sure if any of your old pages have deep links coming from other "strong" sites, consider redirecting them for sure to get the most link juice flowing correctly to your site.

It would not be a good idea to interlink them for SEO reasons as you mention "creating a link wheel/pyramid". I would ask these questions to myself: 1. Do all the sites have unique content ? 2. Do they have any duplicate/repurposed content at all between theme ? 3. Do uses on one website need to navigate to the other website, since it provides value to the user ? 4. Have you considered nofollow links ? This is a bigger strategy discussion that you have to do to figure out your next steps. If they don't provide too much of a value, how about you aggrgate the content on 1, maybe 2 or 3 combined sites instead of 50 and 301 the rest ? It's really difficult to answer further without knowing more in detail. I hope this atleast invokes some questions and a long term SEO strategy.

XYZ Sandals is definitely better. You might also want to consider doing something even more descriptive and doing XYZ Sandals for Women ABC Leather Shoes for Men XYZ Evening Shoes There are ton's of brand searches followed by type/category of shoes.

I agree one hundred percent with Irving and Joseph. I would also ask you how your site is ranking and how old is the site and these URLs. You loose the age aspect of the URLs when you change them. You do gain the advantage and that's what you have to measure, the risk vs reward. Also, do you have inbound links / deep links to these pages ? And I am pretty sure you have the 301s in mind, I thought I'll mention, just in case.

I hope this helps.

James, You might also want to look at the cached version of your page and then click on Text-only version and see if it shows up correctly. If it does, no need to worry from that perspective, but definitely worth checking from a usability, accessibility etc.

Great suggestions from Keri and Holly. I would like to add: On the townstate.com, try to do an Infographic about something. Maybe an interesting chart about the Real Estate Market Trends in the last 1-3 years within your city/state. Some top 10 lists like: Top 10 Reasons Why TownName is a Great City to Live In. Top 10 Jobs in TownName Area Top 10 Cities Where People Move from... You get the idea. I hope that helps.